Kannur: A court in Thalassery today (Dec 9, 2004) awarded death sentence to a 45-year-old man in the rape and murder of a minor girl near Mathamangalam in Payyannur town in Kannur in 2001.

Delivering the sentence under IPC section 302 (murder), additional sessions court (ad hoc-I) Judge K R Jinan awarded the capital punishment to Raju alias Samuel for raping the 17-year-old girl and subsequently robbing her of gold ornaments after strangling her, while she was on her way home, at an isolated place on October 11, 2001.

Under the same section, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 2,500 on the man. Failure to pay the amount will attract an additional one-year jail term, the court said.

The court also awarded seven years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 500 under section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), three years RI and a fine of Rs 500 under section 404 (dishonest misappropriation of property of deceased person).

Under IPC section 376 (rape), the court also sentenced the man to 10 years RI together with a fine of Rs 1,500 and in default of which he will have to undergo ten more months in jail. All the sentences would run concurrently, the court said.

The court had yesterday found Raju guilty of committing the crime and reserved its verdict for today.